A mystery on the side

Within the drama of Thursday’s acquittal of one suspect and the hung jury on alleged gunman Dwayne Moore in the quadruple murders in Mattapan, a legal minidrama spilled from the jury room at Suffolk Superior Court to the judge’s bench- one that is equal parts unusual and, to many, infuriating.

The jury was deadlocked, 11-1, on nine counts, and the tone of its notes to the judge left little doubt that the majority favored conviction. Moore was accused of killing four people- including a 2-year-old boy - and paralyzing another in a drug-related robbery on a quiet side street two Septembers ago.